Green Whistle-Blowing: Now by Text

Jakarta Globe, Fidelis E. Satriastanti, January 26, 2010

Workers sweeping up trash from Menteng River in Jakarta. Poor sanitation habits, including dumping garbage into waterways, have led to massive contamination of the country’s drinking water. (Photo: Safir Makki, JG)

Did you catch someone in the act of dumping buckets full of trash or toxic material into a river near you? Do you have a burning desire to tell off the government for doing little to halt the destruction of forests? If you want these matters heard and addressed directly by the government, just pick up your mobile phone.

The State Ministry of the Environment on Tuesday invited members of the public to text their environment-related complaints to a new hotline – 0811-932-932. The launch of the number coincides with a new Ministry Web site, penegakanhukum.menlh.go.id, dedicated to news, views, and existing regulations on the environment.

“We received so many complaints, mostly through letters, fax or e-mail, but the methods were ineffective and took a long time. It is simpler for villagers or anybody else to text, rather than find access to the Internet and type out their complaints,” said Ilyas Asaad, deputy minister for environmental compliance. He added that on average the Ministry received 190 complaints a year.

“With the new system, the Ministry is hoping that we can also monitor environmental conditions in Papua. One of the difficulties for monitoring environmental conditions is the relationship between locals and the district or subdistrict administrations,” Ilyas said.

He said administrators across the nation were still finding it a challenge to incorporate environmental issues in their local regulations.

“Ideally, all complaints should be taken into account. But because we still lack resources and the necessary funding, we need to set priorities and will, for example, go after larger companies instead of smaller ones,” Ilyas said.

Berry Nahdian Furqon, executive director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), said the biggest challenge for the ministry was the steps the government would take once it received the complaints.

“The operational action counts. The relationship between the central government and regional administrations has been quite loose. The Ministry needs all the help they can receive from local administrations,” Berry said.

Furthermore, he said that green groups could use the system to address their complaints but they would still maintain their own independent methods to express their opinions.